In the context of globalization, NCU has been striving to increase its competitiveness in both research and teaching to prepare itself to join the ranks of the best universities in the world. Realizing the importance of joint ventures and collaborative efforts, NCU has, since 2000, joined forces with three outstanding universities in its geographic vicinity - National Chiao Tung University, National Tsing Hua University, and National Yang-Ming University. This is a new form of "complementary merger" that would combine the research strengths of all four universities while maintaining each university´s name, internal structure, and administrative autonomy so as to continue developing the specificities of each university. The joint venture was formally established as the "University System of Taiwan (UST)" in 2000. Dr. Chao-Han Liu, NCU´s former President, served as the first Chancellor for the University System of Taiwan. The Chancellor of UST now is Dr. J.-L. Tzeng at Yang-Ming University.

The close proximity of these four universities affords numerous opportunities for scholarly interaction and collaboration. Joint Centers for research in the fields of nanotechnology and neuro-science have already been set up, and new cross-campus programs have been created to further future academic collaboration. Within the university system, students are free to take courses from any campus and credits are recognized all around. Students can choose double majors/minors across all four universities or transfer from one department/graduate program to another across different campuses. The university system will share resources and hold joint contests, activities and events. Communication and cooperation are strongly encouraged among the different administrative bodies and research institutes. To facilitate transportation across the four campuses, inter-campus shuttle buses are now in service. (Interlibrary loans have already been widely practiced across campuses). It is expected that the University System of Taiwan will become a formidable force in the academic circle in the near future.